Sunday, 21 August 2011

Over the past few months, life overtook my blog and it somehow fell very low on my to do list. Now that everything is on an even keel, I'm back and I'm so happy and excited.

I'm not even going to go into reasons for my absence, but I'd like to say thank you to everyone who sent messages asking after me and also to the Twitter crew who always show much love and have welcomed me back into the fold. *warm, tingling feeling*

As you can see, major changes happening on the blog, with lots more to come. Stay tuned and I'll let you know when the first post is up!

Friday, 29 October 2010

As the cold draws in on us and we wrap up tighter, our skin can start to look dull and tired under all those layers of clothes. This is simply because our circulation gets slow and sluggish and the skin finds it harder to get rid of waste.

This is where BODY BRUSHING comes in. It will revive tired, dull skin and help get your circulation going to leave you with glowing results. Although an unusual feeling, the benefits far outweigh the 'strangeness' of how it feels.

Some of the benefits are:

Helps combat cellulite on the stubborn areas (I do it for this alone, never mind anything else!)

Removes the top most layers of dead skin

Gets the circulation going, bringing more oxygen and nutrients into the skin.

Stimulates skin renewal for super soft skin

Helps the body's natural detoxification process

Improves metabolism

For maximum impact, its best to do body brushing before a shower or bath and always brush in the direction of the heart. Obviously if you have any sensitive, broken or sore skin, avoid those areas, otherwise you will be in pain!

What type of brush to use?

A soft natural fibre brush is best. The best I've used is the Elemis Skin Brush which is just under £20 and is made from pure natural cactus bristles. Works a treat!

For a lovely treat, slather yourself in a moisturising body oil after your shower for baby soft skin.

Friday, 22 October 2010

After a short hiatus, Friday Favourites is back and this products gets a well deserved mention. I've only just discovered it, but I am so loving it, especially for the drama its creates!

The gong goes to Illamasqua's Sealing Gel, which can be used for a variety of purposes to create a quick drying intense colour paste that lasts forever. I mean forever...you even need elbow grease to remove when you're washing off your make up.

Being a fan of eyebrows, off course I used it to create some uber sculpted defined brows that will wow any brow fan!

Ignore make up, focus on les brows!

To do, I mixed the sealing gel with a dark navy blue eyeshadow (blue brows are high impact drama) and using the Illamasqua eyebrow brush, I drew on my new brows. If you're going to follow suit, you only need a few drops of the sealing gel and only mix in a small corner section of the eyeshadow pan, so that you can preserve the rest of the eyeshadow for future use.

Illamasqua's Never Eyeshadow

Go ahead, enjoy some high drama brows! Halloween is round the corner, perfect time to let out your alter ego x

Thursday, 21 October 2010

I'm on a real mission this winter to up my stock of red lipsticks. It's my thing at the moment and every beauty hall I go into, you can be guaranteed that I leave with a few red swatches on my hand. But I should have looked closer to home, especially in my MyFace.Cosmetics goody box.

I delved in last Sunday just before nipping out, just to see if there was anything that would take my fancy, and yes there was! It's called Gigabite: Karmic Kiss. It's not a red that I thought a lot off in the tube. It's a brick red and I usually favour more purple reds, but once on for a few minutes, I really really liked it. In fact, I liked it more as the day went on.

There is a bit of sheen to it, which for me is a good thing. I've not moved into matte territory yet, and not sure if I will, so this was perfect for me. There's great staying power and I didn't have the need to re-apply during the day, apart from after lunch, which I think is norm. It's also very moisturising and my lips didn't dry out all day. The coverage is fabulous and the application is pretty even too, even though I put it on over lip balm and didn't line my lips with a pencil.

You HAVE to give it to MyFace.Cosmetics, they are seriously making some good stuff!

Monday, 18 October 2010

My glitter fever is at an all time high, especially after receiving a few polishes from the OPI Burlesque collection. My other half thinks I've gone bonkers seeing as a few months ago you couldn't pay me to wear a glitter nail polish. I always complain that they are murder to take off, but right this moment, I could possibly commit murder to get my hands on a glitter nail polish! Strange.

This past week, I've been sporting my two favourites from the collection.

Extrava-va-ganza, a gorgeous gold and orange glitter combination with hints of blue and pink glitter involved. I got compliments all day with this on and the girls at work were requesting it non-stop.

Sparkle-icious, a beautiful blue bases glitter polish, with yellow, pink, gold and purple glitter in the mix. I really like this one, it so colourful and really perks me up.

Not only are these polishes great on their own, I suspect they'll also be excellent for layering over a similar block colour, just to bring some life to some only polish you already own. Just be aware, you'll need a bit of elbow grease to take them off. Having said that, they are well worth it.

Sunday, 17 October 2010

This is a double update as I didn't update about college last week due to life, generally getting in the way!

The last two weeks of college have been very good, lots of hard work trying to juggle work, studying, practicals, exams and home life, so my levels of perseverance and dedication have been squeezed to no end. So a word of advice for anyone considering going down the beauty route post 16 years old, especially if you're holding down a full time job too - consider it very well, it's a lot of hard work and you feel constantly tired, but the results are well worth it!

I had my major facial, anatomy and physiology exam this past week and I really struggled to get some study time and I was really worried about it. I essentially need to achieve 100% in all major exams, but 70% and over gets you over the hurdle and anything you get wrong after, the teacher sits you down and orally questions you on your incorrect answers. Below 70%, you sit the entire exam again! Pressure's on! I'm glad and relieved to say that I passed with 80% . I was one of the only two that passed in a class of fifteen therapists, so I'm very grateful for my results. Show's that studying on a packed First Capital Connect train during rush hour does work :-)

We also started microdermabrasion. Yippee! I've been looking forward to this treatment from the start of the course, but I have to say that I didn't enjoy it, when it was done to me. I'm happy to do it on other people, but the grainy feeling from the crystals that remains on the face after, I'm not a fan of. Crystals in my mouth, ears and nose, too much crystal action going on for my liking. Having said that, I think its my partner that didn't clean my face properly after, because when I do the treatment, I don't leave any crystals behind. A smooth, clean facialist, I am!

The Agera Microdermabrasion Machine
This is what we use at college

If you don't already know, microdermabrasion is using fine crystals in combination with suction to give the face a deep exfoliation and remove the top most layer of skin (stratum corneum) to reveal fresher, smoother skin underneath. It really tackles unwanted skin conditions such as pigmentation, sun damage, acne and acne scarring. Fine lines, wrinkles and and uneven skin tone issues can also be addresses. It really is a great treatment and I have people lining up to have a course.

On the same note, I seem to be developing quite a following of clients at college requesting me for their facials. I've got friends of friends, calling me or the college up requesting specifically for treatments with Kay. I love it and I'm so chuffed that people want me to look after their skin for them.

This week, my teacher also dropped the bombshell that we are all required to do at least two days of unpaid work experience in a salon other than the one we already work in. Great :-), as if I haven't got enough that I'm juggling, I now have to find a work experience placement. Ideally, I'd love to do work experience in a salon that focuses on facials, so if you're reading this and can offer me something or know of a salon in the London area that can offer me something, please do let me know.

So that's the major happenings for the last two weeks and we've now finished the electrical facial unit. Next we're on to electrolysis. I freeze upon the sight of a needle, so this unit is going to be very interesting!